Beginning in 2005, The African Queen and I enjoyed Section 320 at RFK Stadium. Our Washington Nationals and the Nats320 Blog came to life for us there. Since 2008-we've sat in Section 218 at Nationals Park, but our blog name has not changed. Our roots are in Nats320-and we will never forget those good times. But, as always, we will attempt to provide fun, information and commentary about Our Washington Nationals. All photos, unless otherwise attributed-COPYRIGHT Nats320--ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Navy Yard Metro/Stadium Seat Relocation Process

There has been a fewstorieswritten of late concerning The Navy Yard Metro Expansion Project in relation to New Nationals Park. The Outlook mentioned in these newspaper articles has been a little bleak. Some fearing The Metro Station closest to the new ballpark on South Capitol Street will not be ready come Opening Day--2008.

Looking for some answers--I have spent the early part of this week reaching out to those involved. Some have returned my messages. Some have not. But, Metro did.

Lisa Farbstein--The Acting Director--Office of Public Affairs for The Transit System--returned my email and answered some of my questions.

The following are her precise remarks:

"Here's a little more data on the Navy Yard station expansion. We're expanding the mezzanine to accommodate 15,000 fans per hour instead of the 5,000 per hour it can handle now. We're doing the mezzanine expansion. The work we are doing is ON SCHEDULE. Meanwhile, Monument Realty is doing work on the entrance to their building. To get to the station, one will need to enter their building. Their work is what is not on schedule."

"The detailed info on the Navy Yard construction work is on our web site."

"What you'll see is work on the mezzanine and platform is being done by Metro and surface work being done by Monument."

"Metro's responsibilities include (see page 6) extending the mezzanine, installing an extra escalator and staircase from the platform to mezzanine, and installing a new mezzanine to platform elevator. This is to handle the 15,000 customers per hour instead of just the 5,000 per hour it can currently handle."

"Monument's responsibilities include (see pages 6, 7 and 8) installing new surface to mezzanine elevators, moving the kiosk and fare gates to the surface level and well, quite frankly, putting the roof over it, which is really their building. There is a beautiful (everything is relative) rendering of the front of the station on page 9. That gives you a good idea of how people will have to access the station entrance."

Here are details from Metro's news release about the station renovation work:

Navy Yard Station West Entrance to Close for Construction

The west entrance of the Navy Yard Metrorail station on the Green Line will close starting Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007, through April 2008 due to construction related to the expansion of the station entrance. The east entrance on the northwest corner of M Street and New Jersey Avenue, SE, will remain open.

The $20 million construction project is to increase the station’s entrance capacity due to its close proximity to the new ballpark that is currently under construction. The west entrance at Half and M Streets, SE, is one block north of the future Nationals’ ball park scheduled to open in April 2008.

The entrance expansion includes:

● increasing the number of fare gates and fare card machines;● relocating the west entrance to the street level;● installing a new elevator from the street level to the mezzanine;and● installing a new stairway between the mezzanine and the platform.

The present mezzanine’s capacity can move up to 5,000 passengers per hour. The plan for the new mezzanine is to increase the ability to move 15,000 passengers per hour through the station.

Funding for this project is being provided by the District of Columbia in anticipation of being refunded by the federal government.The west entrance of the Navy Yard Metrorail station on the Green Line will close starting Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007, through April 2008 due to construction related to the expansion of the station entrance. The east entrance onthe northwest corner of M Street and New Jersey Avenue, SE, will remain open.

The $20 million construction project is to increase the station’s entrance capacity due to its close proximity to the new ballpark that is currently under construction. The west entrance at Half and M Streets, SE, is one block north of the future Nationals’ ball park scheduled to open in April 2008.

Now, I did ask Metro about Targeted Bus Service from various points throughout the city and surrounding environs. Metro had no answer to that question--at this time. Although, Our Washington Nationals have responded to, not only my Navy Yard Metro Questions--but many, many others--in an interview with a Nationals Official to be posted later this week.

But, very importantly, Our Washington Nationals have CONFIRMED to me: The expected and completed New Nationals Ballpark Seat Relocation Process will be announced--with details sent to all Season Ticket Holders--by the second week of November.

10 comments:

So let me get this straight. The expansion of the platform to handle 15,000 persons per hour will be done on schedule by Opening Day 2008. But the Monument building entrance may not be done by then, since it's currently seven weeks behind schedule. However, there is another entrance to the station that has been open all along and will be open on Opening Day. So, worst case scenario, fans have to walk around the block to get to an open entrance that's a little further away than the one that's behind schedule. In other words, this is NOT a disaster in the making, despite the way the media has portrayed things. Odd, isn't it, that none of the coverage in the Post has mentioned that the platform will be expanded on time and that there is a second entrance to the station that will be open.

Thank you, SBF, for your thorough reporting. I only wish more people were aware of it, because if they were it might reduce a lot of the panic that's going on out there relative to the new park. I've been quite critical myself of the Post on Svrluga's and other blogs, and it's things like this that are a big reason why.

Maybe. But at RFK, even though there are two entrances most people go through the one closest to the stadium. At Navy yard, once both entrances are open most people will probably choose to go through the one closest to the stadium, which is the one under development by Monument, rather than walk around. So the net effect is that most people go through one of the entrances. Until the new one is opened, all of the people (instead of just most of them) would go through one entrance - the other one. Not all that big a difference, as far as bottlenecks go.

Yes, I used the Navy Yard Metro a couple times now on visits to the stadium. The Entrance/Exit that is currently open is one half block away on the other side of the street--that must be crossed. That's the difference. Certainly, both entrances being opened will help alleviate a bottleneck after games. But, its not a doomsday scenario. My only real concern is the 15,000 people per hour load handle if there is a sellout crowd and The Team is expecting 50% of the patrons to use Metro.

Building the station to 15,000 per hour is probably a reasonable number for the end-state scenario, i.e. when the neighborhood is built out and there are bars and restaurants there to give fans a reason to arrive early and/or stay late. Until that happens, yeah there may be backups waiting to get into the Navy Yard station when there are sellout crowds. On the other hand, though, I will be taking Metro to all the games and I plan to walk to Capitol South to get directly on the Orange Line. I bet I won't be alone in doing that.

Anyone have a good idea on where best to head from Leesburg when coming into games? I've always shied away from Metro - although I have used it at the West and East Falls Church metro stops. The challenge is that it takes me almost as long to get to a Metro stop as it does to get RFK. Then it's as long a ride on the Metro to the Stadium.

Any advice on if it makes sense to head to a different stop closer to downtown, via my car, hop on a Metro closer in, and then head to the new location?

I'll likely get a hotel room down there for the first couple of games, but given the long term, and until I get comfortable (if ever) parking there...I'd be interested in knowing if anyone feels there's a halfway efficient trip in from Leesburg.

This is excellent: one does get the impression that the stadium being built on time; with unique iconic qualities; and super-amenities and vantage points; good food, etc.; a competitive young, well-managed team attracting a strong fan base; and a nice mix of convenience access to the park, including a newly expanded handsome metro stop a mere block from the open beauty of the outfield entrance is a DOOMSDAY scenario for the Post!!

One from Des Moines, for example, may question the Post's bias to see the Nationals as a failing enterprise.

A clue may have been found in longtime sports editor George Soloman's brief response in his TalkBack column last week to the effect that the Nationals are supported primarily by residents of Virginia and not D.C. and Maryland.

To the Des Moines visitor, I would suggest that the inference is that CONSERVATIVE folks support the Nats, while their more liberal D.C. and MD counterparts are disinterested. (Old perceptions die hard.)

This is bull, especially since recent vintage Northern Virginians are relatively liberal, for the most part, but it may provide some logic to the illogical bias which is too obvious coming from the Post. And, as I have said before, politics has NO BUSINESS being in baseball...It is a together thing for all.

If politics is not the answer to the apparent prejudice, then some sort of misgotten loyalty to Angelos is the next logical explanation. After that comes love of soccer. After that, I have no clue...

"A clue may have been found in longtime sports editor George Soloman's brief response in his TalkBack column last week to the effect that the Nationals are supported primarily by residents of Virginia and not D.C. and Maryland."

By this, he means that DC and Maryland are still Orioles country. Right again, George. There are so many Orioles fans in DC that one team store couldn't hold them all. So they closed it before the fire inspector found out.